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tigerlily
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10 Dec 2008, 1:00 pm

My son was privately diagnosed with aspergers along with me 2 years ago.
Last week he was assessed by the state here in Ireland. The psychologist ended his interview with me saying had I considered that my son may actually be neurotypical and was only exhibiting autistic behaviours he had learned from me, his autistic mother. He is nearly 11 now and has always been home schooled by me. I home schooled my 3 grown up daughters who may well be on the spectrum too.
Does anyone have any views on this . . .I would be glad to hear them.



ephemerella
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10 Dec 2008, 1:23 pm

tigerlily wrote:
My son was privately diagnosed with aspergers along with me 2 years ago.
Last week he was assessed by the state here in Ireland. The psychologist ended his interview with me saying had I considered that my son may actually be neurotypical and was only exhibiting autistic behaviours he had learned from me, his autistic mother. He is nearly 11 now and has always been home schooled by me. I home schooled my 3 grown up daughters who may well be on the spectrum too.
Does anyone have any views on this . . .I would be glad to hear them.


Just a Q: why home-school your children if you don't have social skills? Do they have other opportunities to socialize?



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10 Dec 2008, 1:27 pm

Technically I guess it's possible. Since they're homeschooled, it would narrow down their interaction with NT people.

But does it even matter? Are they happy kids? Then don't worry about it.
It's every bit as likely it's a genetic thing.



Stinkypuppy
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10 Dec 2008, 1:45 pm

Just my opinion but I'd say that as a parent, it's your job to prepare your kids for independence; there won't always be people around to watch out for them. I think that holds true regardless of whether you and your kids are NT or AS. It's your decision to homeschool your son, and I don't think that homeschooling from an AS parent is necessarily a bad influence at all. It might make homeschooling a bit more difficult in some areas, for example school involves introducing your child to a broad array of subjects and ideas and experiences, many of which might be outside of your own expertise or comfort zone. It's important to keep your child open-minded about differences and about new things, otherwise your child will find it more difficult to learn things on his own, especially in adulthood! On the other hand, if you really are an Aspie then your child will get a first-hand understanding about dealing with differences right from the get-go, raising the chances that he'll be more understanding of differences later on.

So I guess in the end homeschooling from an AS parent has its own pluses and minuses, just as homeschooling from an NT parent has a different set of pluses and minuses. You'd just have to be mindful of what the benefits and drawbacks you and your son (and daughters too for that matter) will have by choosing that route, and you can't go wrong. 8)


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garyww
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10 Dec 2008, 3:14 pm

I imagine that there are many doctors out there who would just die to get an interview with you and your kids to study this situation as I think it is unique and intriguing. You may very well be right in your assessment of the situation as I picked up many of the mannerisms and characterists of a grandparent from just being around so much and none have to do with my autism.


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tigerlily
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10 Dec 2008, 4:00 pm

okay, my girls were home schooed after they suffered severe bullying at school and my son because he suffered from severe separation anxiety. less so now. I keep 2 hoses, one a quiet house in a nature reserve and the other in town where he plays with kids on the estate. I am nearing completion of a webautism course which qualifies me to work as a home tutor for autistic kids here in Ieland. I am pretty sure that my dad has AS and his twin sister AS too, her 2 kids HFA. Appropriate education here in my part of Ireland is basically non existent.